Army kills suicide bomber before blow up

By Walter Jayawardhana

SRI LANKA ARMY TROOPS SHOOT AND KILL A SUICIDE BOMBER SECONDS BEFORE HE BLEW HIMSELF UP KILLING ALL AROUND

Sri Lanka Army troops shot and killed a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber seconds before he could blow himself up killing scores of people around.

The suicide bomber, commonly known as a Black Tiger, who planned to blow himself up and embraced a Sri Lanka Army soldier before he pulled a toggle fastened to his suicide jacket, was killed by the fast acting soldier saving the lives of dozens of civilians and soldiers at an army check point in the Northern Jaffna peninsula, an army spokesman said.

Army spokesman Lt. Col Upali Rajapaksa said the man killed by the army was wearing a suicide jacket lined with C4 explosives.

Sri Lankan Tamil group, the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers are the world’s most sophisticated manufacturers of suicide jackets. The technology is also believed to have been sold to Al Queda which uses it openly in the Middle East.

The incident happened in Jaffna, the island’s main Tamil area, under the control of Sri Lanka government’s security forces, but, mixed up with the civilians, and from hide outs the LTTE operates.

The LTTE did not immediately respond to the incident or claim responsibility for the unsuccessful attempt.

Under a five year old Ceasefire agreement brokered by Norway armed personnel cannot enter the other’s area but the agreement has become a worthless piece of paper.

Individual suicide bombers and suicide trucks from time to time enter government controlled areas and blow themselves up killing civilians and armed personnel. On the fifth anniversary of the Ceasefire Agreement the LTTE officially announced it would fight for a separate state carved out of Sri Lanka despite the ceasefire.

Tamil Tigers sold Norwegian passports to Al Queda

By Walter Jayawardhana

ANTI TERRORISM SPEAKER SAYS TAMIL TIGERS SOLD HUNDREDS OF NORWEGIAN PASSPORTS TO AL QUEDA GROUP

Falk Rovik, chief spokesperson of the organization called Norwegians Against Terrorism making a public lecture in Toronto Canada said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam criminals have stolen Norwegian passports and sold them to Al Queda terrorist organization to earn money.

He was speaking as the main guest speaker at the Sri Lanka United National association’s Special General meeting held at the North York Civic Centre Auditorium in Toronto. Canada, recently.

He said a LTTE member called Mike Daniel Jeya is already in prison for this passport racket, and the LTTE has sold these passports to the highest bidders including an Algerian Al Queda group that compromised Norway’s own security very seriously.

Falk Rovik further said the LTTE in Norway has made use of weak members of the society, who are corrupt to engage in various crimes and select them from Norwegian police services, politicians, military and ex-military to do their dirty jobs.

“In this case it was a police officer who was made use of. Police officer Herman Olav Nyhusmoen was a man of habitual gambling and was always wanting money to pay his debts. So, LTTE cadre Mike Daniel Jeya was easily able to steal the passports using him,” the speaker said.

The speaker said both the Norwegian and the LTTE cadre are in jail for the crimes committed. Rovik said the great passport fraud was detected when a LTTE man was caught with 700 passports in Thailand.

He said according to Interpol figures 130,000 Norwegian passports have been stolen. The speaker pointed out that the LTTE has used some of the stolen passports and the balance have been sold to the highest bidders including the Al Queda group in Algeria.

A large gathering including representatives from Amnesty International, Mackenzie Institute, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CSIS, Toronto Police, several GTA Riding Association officials, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, Consul General and other Sri Lankan community leaders were present in the hall to listen to his lecture.

Rovik who is also a member of the board of Oslo Chapter of the Amnesty International said almost 90 percent of LTTE revenues are raised from criminal activities outside Sri Lanka, including the smuggling of narcotics and humans, extortion of Diaspora members, credit card fraud etc.

Falk Ravik charged that the Government of Norway has funded the LTTE through two ways, by giving money to the bogus humanitarian front organization called Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) and sending money to secret bank accounts. He said the TRO is directly controlled by the LTTE and is being used to funnel money into the LTTE’s arms procurements. He said the money supplied by Norway to the TRO ran into millions of dollars. He said his organization extracted these lists from public records and published. Now he said as a cover up the government is grouping those figures to hide certain names the monies received.

Just like the Norway government supplied funds to the PLO when the country played a mediatory role in the Israeli-Palestenian conflict, the speaker said, Norway is also using secret accounts to fund the LTTE. He said during the Middle East conflict such funds ended up in private accounts in Swiss Banks.

Folk Rovik further charged ex-Norwegian Special Forces have trained the LTTE Sea Tigers in under water demolition methods in Thailand. He said ex-Norwegian Special forces never train foreigners without the consent of the Norwegian government. The speaker said the Sea Tigers were especially trained in attacking ports and navy ships. He further revealed that certain Norwegian military personnel serving in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) under the peace process have taken LTTE personnel to study at the Special Forces Military base in Rena, Norway.

He said the Norway managed SLMM monitors are not true monitors but a bias lot and said it was amply demonstrated when a Chinese Fishing trawler was destroyed by the Sea Tigers. Rovik said what the SLMM said was that the sinking of the Chinese vessel was done by an unknown third party! He said there is innumerable pieces of evidence to prove that the Norwegian government has contributed to terrorism in Sri Lanka. Due to that the victims of terrorism in Sri Lanka who have lost their limbs, loved ones and property and suffered mutilations are able to file class actions against the Norwegian government asking for compensation, under the country’s laws Rovik said.

Bogollagama tells bogus charity fund raising hampers Lanka peace process

By Walter Jayawardhana

BOGOLLAGAMA TELLS US ATTORNEY GENERAL THAT THE ABILITY OF TAMIL TIGERS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR BOGUS CHARITIES IS HAMPERING PEACE PROCESS

On the second day of his visit to Washington DC, March 15 Sri lanka’s foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolagama met US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalves at the Justice Department.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the US Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the capability of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the United States to raise funds in the guise of collecting for bogus charities is hampering Sri Lanka’s peace process.

Raising the point about a recent California US District court verdict, the minister said it is helping the terrorist group through its front organizations to collect money purportedly for charitable purposes. But the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said the money finally ends up in terrorist coffers to procure weapons. He pointed out the more weapons they receive lead to more refusals on their part to sit down at a negotiating table for a political solution.

The Minister was referring to a US District Court verdict in California of Judge Audrey B. Collins that declared terrorist groups like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam could raise funds “for lawful non-violent activities”

Department of Justice sources said there is a similar concern about the verdict on their part and the verdict will be appealed against by the Department of Justice at an appropriate time.

Writing a strongly worded editorial the Washington Times newspaper in December 2006 said, “it would be terribly wrong headed to think that charity for terrorists is permissible if the purported intention is humanitarian.”

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, whose country is greatly affected by the verdict since it enhanced the power of the insurgent group to procure more and more weapons for a war said all avenues open for them to collect money purportedly for charity by such LTTE front organizations like the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) should be blocked for peace to be sustained in Sri Lanka.

Attacking the judgement the Washington Times said in December, “Three weeks ago, a California district court judge gutted a large part of President Bush’s ability to criminalize financial assistance to terrorist groups, declaring a 2001 executive order allowing the president to designate “specially designated global terrorists” to be “unconstitutionally vague” and overreaching.” The editorial further said, “It would be terribly wrong-headed to let people think that charity for terrorists is permissible if the stated intention is humanitarian. Money is money and can be used for any purpose which a murky and non-transparent terrorist group decides.”

The Sri Lankan delegation consisted of Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington Bernard Goonetilleke and others.

In a statement issued after the meeting the with Attorney General Gonzales at the Justice Department and Steve Hadley, National Security Advisor at the White House, on the second day of the visit on March 15, an official statement of the embassy said, “While expressing Sri Lanka’s appreciation for the proscription of the LTTE in the U.S. since 1997, as well as the recent arrests and prosecution of LTTE agents in New York and Maryland, the Minister noted that it is a matter of deep concern to Sri Lanka that the LTTE continues to function in many western countries including the U.S. through numerous front organisations involved in cultural, religious, economic and rehabilitation activities. He particularly noted that Sri Lanka had taken action to freeze the accounts of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) which while purporting to be a charitable body, has been the LTTE’s primary fundraising arm in the U.S. He said the Sri Lanka Government had observed substantial irregularities in the remittances received by TRO ( Sri Lanka ), when compared with its collections overseas, particularly in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

“The Minister said, along with the denial of access to weapons, curbing fundraising abroad is the key action the international community could take to force terrorists groups to give up terrorism and come to the negotiating table. The U.S. administration taking such action at the present juncture, when Sri Lanka is showing a genuine commitment to evolve consensus in the south to find a lasting settlement to the conflict, will send a clear message to the Tamil diaspora in this country that supporting terror through whatever means will not be condoned.

“This afternoon the Foreign Minister briefed the Sri Lanka Congressional Caucus at the Capitol Hill on current developments in Sri Lanka, specifically the government’s peace initiative with broad-based political consensus in the south for a sustainable peace. The Minister pointed out that for these positive political developments to take effect, Sri Lanka needs greater support from the US and the international community to ensure that the LTTE becomes a stakeholder in the peace process. The Minister said that this needs concerted effort by the international community to prevent fund raising.”

Sri Lanka storm to 243-run win

Cricinfo

Three fluent half-centuries set up Sri Lanka’s dominance before a scorching spell from Lasith Malinga made a mess of Bermuda’s maiden World Cup appearance at Port-of-Spain. The 243-run walloping was the third-heaviest in one-dayers and it was only thanks to some lower-order resistance that it avoided being an even more gory bloodbath.

Choosing to bat on a flat deck, Sri Lanka’s power-packed line-up didn’t need to do anything out of the ordinary – Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara combined for a solid 150-run stand before Chamara Silva erected an imposing skyscraper. Bermuda’s unheralded batsmen were never going to threaten such a mammoth total, not with Malinga, exotic hairstyle and all, swinging out three wickets in as many overs.

Just like Australia dispatched off the Scots yesterday, Sri Lanka were ruthless in their annihilation. Chaminda Vaas removed Clay Smith in the first over, curving one in and trapping him plumb, before Malinga took over with a devastating touch. Saleem Mukuddem limply hung his bat out to a slightly short delivery, David Hemp committed a similar error, just that the edge was thicker, and Irvine Romaine had no answer to a full-length ball that detonated his pads. Farveez Maharoof and Muttiah Muralitharan mopped up the lower order but Bermuda were deep into the triangle by then. Lionel Cann’s 28, including three fours and a six, avoided a slew of infamous records but it did nothing but delay the inevitable.

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